Both hands tied
Subtitle: welfare reform and the race to the bottom in the low-wage labor market
By: Jane L. Collins and Victoria Mayer.
Contributors: Mayer, Victoria.
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Chicago; London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 219
ISBN-13: 9780226114057; 9780226114064
Subjects: Working poor -- United States; Poor -- Employment -- United States; Poor women -- Employment -- United States; Public welfare -- United States
Description: This book studies the working poor in the United States, focusing in particular on the relation between welfare and low-wage earnings among working mothers. Grounded in the experience of thirty-three women living in Milwaukee and Racine, Wisconsin, it tells the story of their struggle to balance child care and wage-earning in poorly paying and often state-funded jobs with inflexible schedules and the moments when these jobs failed them and they turned to the state for additional aid. The authors here examine the situations of these women in light of the 1996 nation.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: the connection between welfare and work; title: Welfare reform's context: the growth of the low-wage service sector; title: Welfare reform's content: building connections between work and welfare; title: Tying the first hand: the solitary wage bargain; title: Tying the second hand: challenges to economic citizenship; title: Both hands tied: the race to the bottom in the low-wage labor market; title: Untied hands: a new vision of economic citizenship.